Supplement nr.8bij Nieuwsbrie nr.23 van de Stichting EHS

Electrohypersensitivity (EHS) in the Netherlands

A Questionnaire survey

September 2008, 2

updated graphical edition.

Abbreviated version. The complete version is available at the internet address given in the footnote.

Hugo Schooneveld and Juliette Kuiper

Dutch Electrohypersensitivity (EHS) Foundation(Stichting Elektrohypersensitiviteit – EHS)

The questionnaire

This report is based on 250 questionnaires received during the period 2003-2007.The questionnaire is developed by an inormal Working group on EHS (WEO)in the Netherlands in 2001 (www.electroallergie.org), which in 2007 developedinto the Dutch EHS Foundation (www.stichtingehs.nl). Our aims were toassess the EHS problem through close contacts with electrosensitives and tond out:1. What kind o health problems do they have?2. Is there a characteristic ‘marker’ symptom or the condition o EHS?3. Is there a common risk actor in the way o specic electromagnetic eldsrom appliances and installations?4. What medical and paramedical help, or which alternative (complementary)therapies have they sought?

With this knowledge it should be possible:1. to help electrosensitive people understand the complexity o their EHSproblem. And give them advice on EMF management strategies.2. to design provocation experiments to assess their ability to detect EMFs.We postulated that the conditions under which individuals are exposed to EMFsand then questioned about their subjective experiences would have to be rede-fned. In particular attention should be paid to both high and low requency EMFs.

Procedure

As the WEO working group became more widely known, well over a thousandelectrosensitives contacted us or advice and support. Some 300questionnaire orms were handed over to EHS people, or were handed to them.Over 200 o them completed the orm and send them back, the other 50 ormswere completed on-line through websitewww.stichtingehs.nl. They werehanded the questionnaire beore being admitted as a member. As we gained

EHS in the Netherlands

Free download of this internet document fromhttp://www.stichtingehs.nl/images/stories/EHS/ehs_in_the_netherlands_2008.pdf

knowledge step by step, irrelevant questions were let out and new questionsadded to the questionnaire. These revisions evolved into the list presentedhere. Most people were contacted by one o our sta and invited to an in-depthinterview, once we were sure the person involved was indeed electrosensitive.

General remarks

This questionnaire survey represents a pilot experiment helping us to learn thequestions to ask or assessing the EHS condition o those seeking our advice.It should be stressed that we had no control group o ‘normal’ people; or thatreason it is not possible to determine to what extent problems with vision,smelling, hearing etcetera would be indicative or the EHS condition; manyhealthy people may suer as well rom those ailments at certain times.None o the health problems reported here is specic or EHS. The most solidconrmation o the EHS condition is the experiment in which all electricity inthe house is shut o during a couple o days, or to go to a place (reuge) whereEMFs are minimal and base stations remote. That helps: within a ew dayssymptoms are gone, as people reported. But not orever: problems reappearsoon ater homecoming.Questions to be asked in uture queries may well be ocussed more on systemlevel, or instance immune system and auto immune system, psychologicalproblems, titres o stress hormones, tissue hormones (cytokines), analysis obrain unction, integrity o the brain-blood barrier, etcetera.

Summary o the answers presented in the Appendix.

1. Demographic data

•Symptomsofelectricalhypersensitivityoccurredinallagegroupsand

became apparent most commonly in adults.

•ThereweremoreEHSfemales(68%)thanmales•Onlyaminorityofpeoplehadafulltimejob(38%).

2. Sel-reported general health problems

•Thebiggestgroupofpeoplefeltmoderatelyhealthy,but77%experienced

improved health ater a transer to an electrically ‘clean’ environment.

•Mostrespondents(63%)considerthemselvestobeanemotionalpersonbut55%havenevertakentranquillisers.•Fifty-fourpeoplementionedthatoneormoreoftheirrelativesalsoshow

EHS symptoms.

3. Specifc health problems

We ound no specic EHS distress marker shared by all respondents.Individuals develop their personal range o stress symptoms, and complaints

variedgreatly.70%ofrespondentssufferedfrombothneurologicalorsomatic

problems or both.

EHS in the Netherlands

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Health problems usually comprised both subjective and objective aspects andoccurred in a wide variety o orms.

•Most-citedneurologicalcomplaintsincludechronicfatigue(70%),

headache, sleep and concentration problems, insomnia, numb eeling in thehead, hearing phantom sounds (tinnitus) and others.

•Most-citedsomaticcomplaintsinclude(87%),problemswithfacialskin,

vision, pressure in the head, impaired vision, smell and hearing and pains in joints and muscles.

•Almostallrespondentsmentionedproblemswiththeirhead(numbfeeling,

pain, pressure, sick eeling, tight band around the head).

•Skincomplaintswerereportedbyhalfoftherespondents,withanemphasisonfacialskinproblems(66%).

4. Modiying actors

Several electrosensitives have a history o ill-health and many are infuencedby environmental actors such as odours, UV light, pollen, and allergens. Somereport a burnout, posttraumatic stress disorder or similar conditions.The EHS condition sometimes develops in close association with external andinternal actors that cause the sensations to vary in intensity.

•Thirty-sevenpercentofrespondentshavebeensufferingfromawhole

variety o illnesses or conditions like burnout, multiple chemical sensitivity,bromyalgia, chronic atigue syndrome, etcetera. Some suer rom morethan one o such conditions.

•For38%theEHSconditionwastheoriginatingfactorinsuchparallel

conditions; others claim that EHS is the consequence o these parallelconditions.

•Sixty-eightpercentmentionedthattheywerealsoallergictoawiderangeof

biological agents such as oods, chemicals, medicines, pollen, dust mites,monosodium glutamate etc.

•Asimilarpercentageshowanintoleranceforloudnoises,smells,sunlight,

normal light or other environmental actors.

•Itisparticularlydisturbingthat14%reportedthatmedicalcaresuchas

time spent in hospital, anaesthesia, or other treatments induced their EHScondition.

5. Electromagnetic felds causing electrical hypersensitivity

EMF sources reported to cause or maintain EHS symptoms vary greatly. Nospecic source is mentioned by all individuals, although the use o householdequipment such as Dect phones, WiFi, TV, PC and energy saving lamps bringon problems or at least hal o the respondents. The number o peopleexpressing EHS appears to have increased during the last year. The proximityo external EMF sources such as GSM/UMTS is oten mentioned. AC magneticelds emitted by underground electricity cables and ‘dirty power’ were